Customer Visits 416
Some customers may opt to visit your team on campus rather than bring you to visit them, especially if the project has no central location or is prohibitively far away. In this case, there are a few things your team can do to ensure a smooth and professional visit. # Determine when you'll have your first meeting. Find out whether they'd prefer to get settled in their hotel after getting into town or get straight down to business. Their preference is what counts - just like you'd need to skip classes if you went to visit them, you may also have to skip a few when they visit you. Make arrangements! It looks unprofessional when the entire team isn't there to meet with the client; you want to avoid getting off on the wrong foot. # Book a meeting room. This can be a conference room or a classroom, but it must be reserved for the entire duration of your meeting. A good rule of thumb is about two hours for an initial meeting - this will give a bit of time to make introductions, but allow the discussion to wander a bit--if that's what the situation calls for--without burning precious time. Ideally you'll want to have a projector and whiteboard (more on this later). Make sure you've got room for everybody with a bit to spare; nothing's more awkward than people stacked up like cordwood in the Fishbowl 5 minutes after meeting for the first time. # Prepare meeting materials. '''A few minutes spent making a PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation of your current understanding of the project's scope will make it clear you've digested the information from the overview - and present an early opportunity for them to correct misunderstandings. Don't just copy/paste! Nothing shows that you've made the effort to understand like using your own words. Avoid going into specifics (design ideas, materials, etc.) - you want to understand the customer's vision, not bludgeon them with yours. If, after listening, you do want to spend some time toward the end bouncing broad-strokes ideas off them, sketch it out on the whiteboard. Make sure one member is taking comprehensive notes during any meetings with the clients. # '''Arrange the logistics. '''Consider a few simple questions: #* Do they know how to get to the building you're meeting in? Decode the alphabet soup! We know what "the CUE" is; they likely won't. #* Do they know how to get from their hotel to campus - and where they can find parking? #* Will they need a parking pass? Green-2 visitor day passes are free at Sloan 201. #* Are there any tricks they should know about finding the meeting room? M7 in the ETRL can be hard to find even if you know the campus pretty well. #* Do they have a point of contact if anything arises? Have the liaison give their phone number to the client to call in case they have any questions - and know what's happening well enough to answer! # '''Get there early to set up. Rather than trying to make your first impression while fumbling through a thumb drive for your PowerPoint or typing and re-typing your Google password, have one person get to the meeting room 10 minutes ahead and do it beforehand. It looks much more professional to have a slide up when they walk in the room with your team's name, the project name, and "Project Launch Meeting" or something. If they have a presentation they want to give, bail out of yours - you still come away having given the impression of planning ahead. Taking care of this stuff not only reduces the likelihood of an awkward meeting--it demonstrates to your client that your team is capable of anticipating their needs, nailing down the details, and working to a professional standard rather than expecting to have things done for you. Category:ME 416 Help